Monday, June 27, 2011

According
to legend and myth the great the “Thunder God” roars during the summer
months. Many of us do not find this hard to believe, if we have
experienced a violent thunderstorm in the Apache Junction area during
the summer. There are basically two types of storms that occur in our
area.

The first storm type brings
the central mountain area of Arizona its winter rains. These winter
storms result from the general cyclonic patterns that move across the
United States every 10 days or so. These storms originate in the
Aluetian Low in the Gulf of Alaska. These storms can dump enormous
amounts of precipitation on Arizona below the Mogollon Rim if their
course is altered by the jet stream. These storms will generally last
four or five days with steady rainfall. This type of weather can be
identified with the solid unbroken overcast resulting from Stratus
clouds. These are what we call our winter storms and they are usually
not violent in nature.

The second storm type is
known as the Monsoons. These storms bring massive thunderstorms with
heavy showers, lightning and sometime devastating winds called
microbursts. During the summer months most of the storms over central
Arizona and the eastern portion of the Superstition Mountain Wilderness
result from warm moist air flowing in from the Gulf of Mexico and Sea of
Cortez. This air moves across Texas, New Mexico and Mexico. Mountains
force the moist warm air upward forming clouds. These clouds release
their moisture as they rise. This is known as orographic lift. The
massive anvil-shaped thunderhead clouds that form over Superstition
Mountain from July to September normally combine both from orographic
lift and convectional activity. The convectional storm clouds result
from the rapidly rising and expanding of warm moist air and rapidly
falling cold moist air. Uneven heating of the Earth’s surface causes
convectional activity in the atmosphere. This uneven heating of the
Earth’s surface is caused by the open cloud pattern in the atmosphere.

Lightning can be caused by
the attraction of unlike electrical charges within a thunderhead. The
rapid movement of ice and water molecules, going up and down in a
thunderhead cell, creates friction that results in an enormous amount of
static electricity being produced. A single lightning discharge can
produce about 30 million volts at 125,000 amperes. A discharge can occur
in less than 1/10 of a second. The results of a lightning strike can be
horrific.

The rapid rising and falling
of warm and cold moist air also creates violent bursts of energy. This
type of activity results in microbursts. These microbursts can develop
winds, momentarily, up to 200 mph. As the clouds build and combine they
form massive anvil-shaped thunderheads called cumulonimbus clouds. These
clouds are massive static electric generators dispersing lightning and
creating violent winds. These summer thunderstorms are extremely violent
and can be very dangerous.

It is these giant
thunderheads that dominate the sky above Superstition Mountain during
the monsoon season. The lightning produced by these storms can be
spectacular. According to most sources, the safest place during a
lightning storm is in an automobile. Don’t make yourself part of a
lightning rod during an electrical storm by standing near a lone tree or
on a high point. The use of your telephone during a violent lightning
storm could be your last conversation. The same is true connecting to
the Internet during a lightning storm. Standing near or in a swimming
pool is asking to meet your maker. Boating on a lake during a lightning
storm is certainly risking your chances of living to a ripe old age.
Common sense needs to prevail during our violent thunder and lightning
storms.

Most Arizona monsoon storms
are associated with two other dangerous factors. These factors are flash
floods and dust. A thunderstorm can dump 3 to 5 inches of rain over a
small area in an hour and create a massive flashflood. A flashflood near
Payson in the 1970s claimed 22 campers along Christopher Creek. Many
years ago I witnessed a 4-foot wall of water that roared down Hewitt
Canyon claiming a couple trucks, horse trailers and a couple animals.
These flashfloods result from heavy isolated downpours of rain in the
mountains. There is often very little rain at the site of a flashflood.

Huge dust clouds are often
associated with Monsoons in the desert. Local weather reporters are
often referring to Monsoon generated dust storms as Haboob. Egyptian
dust storms that blow in from the Sahara or Sinai Deserts in North
Africa are called Haboobs.

Dust storms are extremely
dangerous to automotive traffic along our state’s highways and freeways.
Extreme caution should be used during these storms. It is recommended
during these storms to pull as far off the highway as possible and turn
your lights off. While waiting for the dust storm to blow over don’t
rest your foot on the brake pedal. Your taillights or brake lights might
attract reckless drivers in the storm.

It
is not difficult to see why the early Native Americans held
Superstition Mountain with such awe, if you have ever witnessed a
violent electrical storm over the mountain you can see why. We can
partially explain the phenomena today with modern science, but the early
Native Americans could only look to their Gods for an explanation. The
storms were certainly caused by their “Thunder God” with all his might
and fury. We, as late arrivals should respect the awesome power of the
“Thunder God.”

Monday, June 20, 2011

The
stories about Superstition Mountain and the Dutchman’s Lost Mine will
forever live in the minds of those who were closely associated with
George “Brownie” Holmes. His search for Jacob Waltz’s mine spanned more
than 60 years and came to an end on his 88th birthday, April 11, 1980.

Holmes’ passing has brought
to a close another era of history associated with the Superstition
Wilderness Area. You might say Holmes was a significant oral reference
source for those he wanted to visit with. His stories involved direct
contact with those who vividly knew the significant players that played a
role in the story of the Lost Dutchman Mine. These players included
Holmes’ father, Richard J. “Dick” Holmes, Guidon Roberts, Julia Thomas,
Hermann Petrasch, Rhinehart Petrasch, Joe Potertrie and other Arizona
territorial pioneers.

Holmes was born in Phoenix,
Arizona Territory on April 11, 1892, one year after the death of Jacob
Waltz. Holmes was one of the early seekers of the infamous Lost Dutchman
Mine. He had outlived all of his contemporaries and still remained an
adamant believer to the last day of his life. Holmes wrote no books,
drew no maps, and continually avoided conversation concerning the
controversial gold mine allegedly possessed by Jacob Waltz of Arizona
Lost Dutchman Mine fame. His belief in the mine was based on his
father’s search and information left behind when Richard J. Holmes died
on Oct. 31,1930.

Brownie claimed, by his own
statement, to be almost an Arizona pioneer. His grandfather, Richard J.
“Dick” Holmes Sr. arrived in Arizona Territory while it was still a
possession of Mexico. He made his living rounding up maverick cattle
along the Gila River and shipping them to Yuma. These cattle were
animals that had escaped from herds being driven across Arizona by the
southern route to California.

His father, Richard J. “Dick”
Holmes was born at old Fort Whipple, near modern-day Prescott, in 1865.
Richard J. Holmes ranched in the Bloody Basin where today Holmes Creek
and Holmes Canyon bear his name. Brownie’s father was a packer for Al
Sieber, an early Arizona scout who later was killed during the
construction of Roosevelt Dam.

It was on Oct. 25, 1891, by
chance, a course of events changed Richard J. Holmes’ life forever, as
well as his unborn son, “Brownie”. Richard Holmes was walking down a
Phoenix street when he was summons by Julia Thomas for assistance. She
told Holmes the old prospector Waltz was dying and would he please help
her. Thomas asked Holmes to stay with Waltz until she could find a
doctor. There are other versions of this story.

Holmes rushed to the adobe
behind Julia’s bakery shop (sic) to see what he could do. Holmes quickly
realized there was little he could do for the old man but comfort him
in his final minutes of life. It was during these few minutes many
people believe Holmes found out the exact location of Waltz’s mine in
the Superstition Mountains. Precisely what the dying Waltz told Homes,
if anything, will never be known. If anyone knew what Waltz told Richard
J. Holmes on that fateful day it would have to be his son “Brownie.”
There are many who question whether Waltz told Holmes anything at all.
They also doubt Waltz gave the ore in the candle box under his bed to
Holmes. The question that has been ask, why would Waltz share with
Holmes, the man he had warned not to follow him into the mountains or he
would kill him. It is still possible Holmes removed the gold ore from
beneath Waltz’s bed after his death. Nobody knows for sure.

The foregoing event altered
the life of Richard J. Holmes and his son forever. Richard J. Holmes
began his search for Waltz’s mine shortly after being at Waltz’s
deathbed. Holmes believed the mine was located in the Superstition
Mountains east of Phoenix. When Richard J. Holmes died in 1930 “Brownie”
continued the search. This quest lasted more than 60 years.

Yes, George “Brownie” Holmes
was one of the last direct links between yesteryear and today as far as
the Lost Dutchman Mine is concerned. How should George “Brownie” Holmes
epitaph read?

I spent many hours talking
and recording Mr. Holmes telling stories about the Superstition
Mountains, Adolph Ruth, and Jacob Waltz. He talked about searching for
the Dutchman’s Lost Mine as he called it, while working as a cowboy for
the Barkleys and his adventures while a driving a stage over the Apache
Trail for Wes Hill. Brownie always talked affectionately about the
Barkleys and old Wes Hill, owner and operator of the old Apache Trail
Stage Lines. His voice revealed his love for the mountains, the life of a
cowboy, and probably most of all his love for freedom and independence.

Historians, Dutch hunters,
and others have tried for many years to discredit his family as well as
him on the facts associated with the Dutchman’s Lost Mine. Holmes never
claimed he found the Dutchman’s lost mine, he had only sought its
location. Over the years several manuscripts have been mistakenly
accredited to “Brownie” Holmes. He denied writing any manuscripts up to
the time of his death. Those who knew him respected him and those who
tried to discredit him knew nothing about this man. All Dutch hunters
must ask themselves this question, “If I knew the actual clues to the
location of Jacob Waltz’s bonanza ore would I tell any one, even on my
death bed?” When “Brownie” Holmes passed away most of the surviving
samples of Waltz’s gold went to his stepson Billy Harwood. He passed
away in 1998.

Some years ago a lone rider
left First Water trailhead returning “Brownie” Holmes ashes back to his
beloved Superstition Mountains. This man who carried “Brownie” home was
his beloved friend who lived near the base of Superstition Mountain.

Those who knew “Brownie” were indeed fortunate.

He was a special living page of Arizona history whether you believed his story or not.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Arizona’s
Superstition Wilderness Area has fascinated and mesmerized those who
have walked and rode the trails within the towering spires and deep
canyons of this region. The terrain can overwhelm you with beauty,
isolation, tranquility and pure ruggedness.

These 159,780 acres of
wilderness also continue to attract gold and treasure hunters.
Prospectors continue to wander the trails of the Superstition Wilderness
Area in search of gold. Most of the gold they searched for was in their
minds according to “Doc” Rosecrans, an old -time prospector now
deceased. He spent forty years living along the Apache Trail and
occasionally hiked into the Superstition Wilderness to explore a hunch.
He published a small book on the Dutchman’s Lost Mine in 1949. His book
wasn’t much of a success; however it did get him a threat of a lawsuit
from Barry Storm, another author on the topic.

Today, prospectors and
treasure hunters still wander the region in search of gold or treasure,
however for the most part their way of life is slowly disappearing.
Strict forest service regulations and the withdrawal of the wilderness
from mineral entry; has all but ended prospecting and mining in the
region. The only mining that might exist in the wilderness area is
totally illegal.

Contemporary writers, weekend
explorers, and the curious continue looking for facts and information
associated with events that occurred decades ago. Such research and
discussions has been opened to the public through various forums about
the Superstition Mountains and the Lost Dutchman Mine on the internet or
worldwide web. You might say a new Argonaut has arrived on the
landscape for the wilderness area.

The three most controversial
topics are the location of the Dutchman’s Lost Mine, the Peralta Stone
Maps and the tragic death of Adolph Ruth. These topics continue to
attract a wide range of interest among readers on the internet and the
worldwide web. The internet has changed the way we view and research
material today. A forum about the Dutchman’s Lost Mine can be factual or
it can be fictional depending on its source. It is very difficult to
separate the fact from the fiction. After all history is a very thin
line between the truth and a lie. When somebody claims they have found a
lost gold mine how do you know they are telling the truth? A simple
question might be; where is the gold?

If that person were to
produce gold then there would be some interesting repercussions from
those interested in where the gold was found. The next question would be
did you stake a claim? Would any person in their right mind stake a
claim on rich vein of gold? Probably not! A claim notice would be an
invitation for everyone to come and look at your rich gold mine. I
believe this explains the dilemma you would be in. I would believe some
old timers might not have told anyone about their discoveries in the
hills. This type of behavior could easily explain all the confusion
involving the Dutchman’s lost mine.

Jacob Waltz, the legendary
“Dutchman,” may or may not have had a gold mine. Nobody knows for sure.
When he died on October 25, 1891, a candle box of high-grade gold ore
was found under his bed. This gold proved to be of bonanza quality. The
discovery of this candle box of rich ore created a controversy that
continues to linger to this day. Where did this gold ore come from? How
much was there, 24 lbs., 48 lbs.? Men and women have searched the high
peaks and deep canyons of the Superstition Wilderness Area for the
source of this gold ore to no avail. There is no guarantee as to the
source of this gold ore found under Waltz’s deathbed.

The Dutchman’s lost mine
continues to be a tale about a lost gold mine in the Superstition
Mountains. To many folks, the mine is a figment of somebody’s
imagination that continually draws in more dreamers each year. Since the
early 1920’s more than 170 individual have claimed they found the
fabulously rich Dutchman’s lost mine. The roll of discoverers lists the
names of men like Glen Magill, Barry Storm, Robert Simpson Jacob,
Charles M. Crawford, and many, many more who allegedly found the mine
and reaped its profits. Most of those profits were monies they conned
out of innocent and naïve investors. I have watched this vicious cycle
for more than fifty years and witnessed the destruction and heartache it
has caused to innocent people. Former Attorney General Robert K. Corbin
successfully tried and jailed a couple of these crooks. Most notable
was Robert Simpson Jacob. Jacob was sentenced to ten years in prison for
his part in a criminal conspiracy.

Now you ask me is there a
Dutchman lost mine somewhere out in the rugged Superstition Mountain
region? Yes, I have dreamed of finding this mine, but I have never found
any evidence that really suggested the mine existed. Everything is
based of subjective hear-say. Actually facts about this lost mine just
don’t exist. Even the alleged rich gold ore found under Waltz’s bed is
based on hearsay information. Yes, there are alleged pieces of this gold
that supposedly exist today. The documentation that supports this
alleged gold ore is nothing more than hear-say. Even I am guilty of
signing an affidavit some thirty years ago verifying I saw the gold ore
and jewelry “Brownie” Holmes claims belonged to Jacob Waltz. Again, even
witnessing such a thing is still subjective information at best.

A
very distinguished gentleman once said Waltz’s gold ore is what dreams
are made of; meaning who knows where that gold came from that was found
under his bed? Dreams help to build subjective ideology. Let’s face it,
if you have spent a lifetime searching for the gold of Superstition
Mountain there has to be something meaningful to the story. Maybe my
father had it all figured out when he basically said, “Yesterday’s
adventures are today’s memories.”

Welcome to the Kollenborn Chronicles

Tom Kollenborn is a noted author and historian of the Superstition Wilderness. He is also one of the leading experts on the Lost Dutchman's Gold Mine legend and has written numerous articles and books about the Apache Trail and related history. Tom shares his experience with the public every week in the Apache Junction News with a publication called the "Kollenborn Chronicles.” This website is made possible because of Mr. Kollenborn's extensive research and dedication of preserving the history of the Superstition Wilderness and the historic Apache Trail of Arizona.